Somewhere around May of 2002, I ended up buying an 87 Silverado. At the time, it was going to be the foundation on which I built my dream off-road rig. It was halfway there as it was – a 350, a solid front axle, fuel injection, a 4″ lift, and a body that already had enough dents experience not to worry about the occasional little ding.
In early 2005, I bought a new Toyota Corolla. At the time I was driving so much that it more or less paid for itself. This became even closer to the truth as shortly after I bought the car, gas crept up over $3 a gallon and minor mechanical issues led me to park the truck.
Time passed, things changed, and earlier this year I found myself needing to cut back or make more money like most people. I swung a deal with Dad and got the old truck on the road again by trading labor for a replacement window job on his house. He would have done it for me anyway, but by telling him I needed the truck to do the windows, I think he hurried it along a little more. Having the truck would let me pick up little side jobs here and there and hopefully make up the difference financially that I was needing.
Shortly after the truck was running again, who amounts to my little brother needed to borrow a vehicle for a couple days, so I lent him the car and I drove my old truck. I fell in love with it all over again and I began to understand just how true the little sayings often used by two of the people I admire most really are: “The Lord works in mysterious ways” and “You always wind up back where you started”.
One of the things that had changed since 2005 was that I drive less than 5 miles most days. I’ve done it on a bicycle, but it’s a dangerous route through bad neighborhoods and industrial traffic. After 3 days and at least as many near-misses, I decided not to make a habit of it.
Last week I sold the Corolla to a buddy at work. Getting rid of the car immediately let me cut my debt in half. Not making a “new” car payment with “new car” insurance rates and “new car” personal property tax is going to save me around $5,000 a year – although I expect at least 25% of that to be eaten up by increased maintenance and additional fuel usage. At the rate I’ve been going, this would let me be debt-free in two years – about the time I turn 30. That’s definitely a scenario I can live with.
It’s just so strange to think that at a time when it seems like everybody else in the whole world is trying to get into a small car, what made the most sense for me was getting back in my old truck with a V8 and 35″ tires.
